The Failure of The Remedy of Reduction in Israeli Law — Causes and Lessons

Abstract

The process of codifying Israeli private law began in the mid-1960's. Since then, numerous laws have been enacted, each devoted to a certain field or transaction (land law, pledges, sales, etc.). The idea was, and continues to be, that after the enactment of the separate laws is completed, they will be combined in order to create an integral, complete civil code. This stage of enactment is nearly finished, and at present a jurists' committee is considering changes and adjustments required in any of the laws in order to fit them together into one code. This method of legislation by stages has many disadvantages, which have been pointed out in the legal literature. However, there are also advantages. The new laws in the sphere of private law are not inspired by a single legal system or by any particular existing code; rather, they constitute an original, modern Israeli creation, based on comprehensive comparative research and implementation of new, original ideas. In the absence of an established Israeli legal tradition, and absent rooted legal concepts or terminology, the Israeli legislature must create a code which does not grow naturally out of an existing legal system. The code itself will constitute the basis for future development of the system.